Catheter supports



Sept- 1, 1964 H. A. KRAWIEC CATHETER SUPPORTS Filed April 26, 1962 HENRY AKRA W/EC IN VEIV TOR.

a 2km ATTORNEY,

United States Patent 3,146,778 CATHETER SUPPORTS Henry A. Krawiec, 475 Morse Ave, Ridgefield, NJ. Filed Apr. 26, 1962, Ser. No. 190,325 4 Ciaims. (1. 128-349) This invention relates to catheter supports and is particularly concerned with detachable means for the effective supporting of a catheter used on a patient in a manner to avoid discomfort to the patient.

The term catheter here is used in the broad sense of a tube for use in draining fluids out of, or putting them into any cavity of the body, whether a natural cavity or one made in the course of an operation.

When catheters are inserted in cavities in the body of a patient, they normally have to remain there for some time and they are annoying enough in and of themselves without having any pull on them from the exterior creating greater patient discomfort. It has, however, been considerable of a problem to so support an exterior portion of the catheter with respect to the patient in such a way that slack will be present and there will be no pull on the patient. Nevertheless, the catheter needs to be held and supported securely and in those instances where the patient is mobile, the catheter will need to be disconnected from the tube leading away from the outer end of it so the patient can get up and move around without, however, disturbing the position of the catheter in the cavity. Then, in other instances, it may be desirable once a suitable support has been established for the catheter to remove and replace the catheter without disturbing that support.

No effective solutions to these problems have been found in the prior art. The idea of wrapping a piece of adhesive about an exterior portion of the catheter and leaving a portion trailing away from that wrapped portion, which trailing portion is secured to the body of the patient, would seem at first blush to provide a reasonably good answer. In practice, however, it has never worked successfully. Normally it does not leave the catheter free enough to prevent pull on it as the patient moves, with attendant discomfort to the patient. In other instances, the adhesive will come loose from the patient so the attempted support becomes a drag and a hindrance. Furthermore, any element which has to be applied to and removed from the body of the patient by the engagement and disengagement of an adhesive element hardly provides the demountability desired for eliminating patient discomfort while the catheter is removed and reapplied.

Various other arrangements where separate safety pins or clips are used to secure the catheter to the clothing of the patient, or to some other element applied to the patient, are not particularly effective in the course of hospital work. Either the patient or the attendant is likely to get stuck with the pin. Then there are various elements that must be on hand, such as the adhesive tape for holding the catheter, some other support, such as the patients clothing, or some tape in some way secured to the patient, and then a separate element such as a clip or a pin is needed to join these together. While doing all of this it is difficult to avoid exerting a pull on the catheter with consequent discomfort to the patient.

The instant invention eliminates the foregoing and other drawbacks of prior art practices and does so in a simple, straightforward manner which is highly effective for hospital use. Simple, easily manipulable elements are employed, one for holding the catheter and the other for securing onto the body of the patient. These are merely snapped together when support is needed, or unsnapped for removal of the catheter, as may be desired, without distributing the supporting element secured to the body of 3,146,778 Patented Sept. 1, 1964 ice the patient. Flexibility of positioning is provided with support being possible from a variety of angles in a manner unobtainable by following any of the pror art practices.

It is, accordingly, the principal object of the invention to provide improvements in the supporting or mounting of a catheter with respect to a patient.

Another object is to provide such supports which are readily demountable for removal of the catheter as desired.

Another object is to provide such supports out of a minimum of parts which can be supplied already detachably secured together so that no loose elements are involved in the application of the support.

A further object is to provide a relationship of catheter supporting and carrying elements which is flexible so that selectivity of mounting in a variety of positions is attainable.

A still further object is to provide such supports which though fully effective for the intended purpose are unobtrusive in and of themselves and are highly economical.

Further and more detailed objects of the invention will in part be obvious and in part be pointed out as the description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing proceeds.

In that drawing:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the catheter carrying element of the support per se.

FIG. 2 is a similar view of the patient mounting element of the support per se.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the element of FIG. 1 applied to a catheter.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of a catheter with the element of FIG. 1 applied thereto and with that element detachably engaged with the patient mounting element of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary diagrammatic view illustrating the application of the device of the invention to a patient having a catheter applied orally.

The catheter holding element as shown in FIG. 1 is merely a strip of adhesive tape, generally indicated at 1, which has a suitable base strip 2 of felt or tape-like fabric carrying adhesive 3 on one face thereof. Before this strip is put into use, the adhesive 3 is protected by means of a suitable covering strip 4. Inasmuch as for economys sake, normal readily available adhesive tape is used for the catheter holding element, the adhesive 3 and covering 4 extend throughout the length of the strip. The covering 4 is commonly of some inexpensive thin sheet or film material, such as cellulose acetate film, and it is commonly provided in a waffle-like pattern. Of course, the adhesive adheres to the backing strip much more strongly than it does to the covering member so that the covering or protective member 4 can readily be engaged at one end and removed to expose the adhesive to the extent desired to afiix the element to the catheter.

Before turning to that, however, it will be noted that, adjacent one end, the strip 1 has one part 5 of a two part snap fastener secured thereto. The head of this fastener part is shown in this instance, it being understood, however, that the fastener part has a portion extending through the tape. In this instance, as seen in FIG. 3, the portion on the other side of the tape provides a finger bordered opening 6.

For securing this catheter holding element 1 of the desired catheter 7, one merely needs to select the appropriate position on the catheter 7 where the holding element is to be applied. Then the covering strip 4 is removed to a suficient extent, from the end of the strip opposite that carrying the snap fastener part 5, to enable a turn or two of tape with the adhesive exposed to be taken about the catheter. When this has been done one element of the invention is complete and the catheter U holding element is already secured to the catheter in a position to give the proper support for the catheter by engaging the fastener part with its counterpart on the supporting member.

The supporting member is shown per se at in FIG. 2. As there shown, the member is formed as a doubled piece of adhesive tape having opposed legs 11 and 12 which are brought against each other at the position 13 and are then returned around the bend 14. The counterpart 15 of the snap fastener part 5 is mounted in the double portion 13 and, as shown in FIG. 2, has its projecting element 16 facing outwardly. The opposite, or back portion, of the fastener part 15 is shown at 17 in FIG. 4.

As just pointed out, the supporting element 10 of FIG. 2 is merely a strip of common adhesive tape doubled upon itself. It is significant, however, that the adhesive hearing surfaces of the tape with the protective strips thereover are positioned on the inside of the legs 11 and 12. This is because the supporting element is designed to be utilized with its two legs 11, 12 spread apart, as seen in FIGS. 4 and 5. To prepare for securing the element to the patient the protective strip, or film, 18 is removed as far back as desired from the ends 19 of both legs 11, 12, to expose the adhesive. Then the tapes are spread apart so the supporting element can be applied to the patient extending over a considerable area, as indicated in FIG. 5.

As seen in FIG. 2, small tabs 20 are provided as extensions of the covering strip 1? beyond the normal ends 19 of the tape. These may be provided, if desired, but they are not necessary for the ordinary wafile formation of the covering strip enables it to be readily picked up at the end and pulled away from the adhesive. It is believed that it will be apparent that no matter where on the body of the patient the supporting element 19 is to be applied, it can, by the spread achieved through separating the legs 11, 12, expose such a substantial area of adhesive material in opposite directions from the point of support provided by the fastener part 15 that adequate support for the catheter can be provided without much feeling of the same on the part of the patient.

To briefly detail the procedure for applying the supporting device of the invention, the catheter holding member 1 and catheter supporting element 19 may readily be supplied snapped together in pairs so that the busy doctor, nurse, or other hospital technicians has everything on hand when he picks the pair of parts up to apply them. Then, after the catheter 7 is inserted in the patient with its end 21 positioned Where desired so that the opening 22 at the side thereof can either serve as a drain or supply opening, the technician determines the best position of the catheter for application of the holding strip 1. Then having removed the desired extent of covering material 4, he wraps the exposed adhesive end portion 23 around the catheter and around again on itself, if desired, to secure the holding member to the catheter.

Next, the proper position on the patient for the positioning of the supporting element lti having been selected, the protective strips 18 are removed from the over adhesive of the legs 11 and 12. Those legs are separated and the inner adhesive faces thereof are secured to the body of the patient. This positions the end portion 13 carrying the snap fastener part 17 in a single plane which, in the course of applying the supporting member to the patients body, should have been so selected that it is closely parallel to, or can readily be made parallel to, the free end 24 of the holding member 1 which carries the fastener part 6. The fastener parts 6 and 15 are, accordingly, snapped together and the supporting of the catheter in desired position is achieved.

Once the fastener parts are snapped together they provide pivotal movement between the ends 13 and 24 in their substantially parallel planes. This facility of the portions 13 and 24 to swing with respect to each other in parallel planes provides a freedom and flexibility of movement Without disturbing the support aspect not heretofore obtainable in prior art holding devices used for this purpose. Besides that, freedom or" movement is also achieved since the adhesive tape material out of which the portions 1 and 10 are made is flexible almost to the stage of being limp, particularly when the protective covering is removed. Hence the catheter support of the invention will provide little restriction against small movements of the catheter which may occur as a result of movement by the patient.

Another advantageous aspect of the invention construction is that should the patient be mobile and wish to get out of bed and move around, he can do so without affecting the support of the catheter. He merely needs to unhook the connection between the end 25 of the catheter and the portion 26 of the continuing tube which is engaged in the end 25. When he returns he can hook the two ends 25 and 25 up together again and the normal functioning of the catheter will be restored.

Through in the foregoing a specific and What is believed to be the presently most economical embodiment of the invention has been disclosed, it is to be understood that it is for illustrative and not limiting purposes and that the variations and modifications of the invention as would suggest themselves to those skilled in the art fall within the scope thereof as measured by the claims to follow:

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent for it is:

1. In catheter support construction, in combination, a first member for engaging a catheter, a second member for engaging a supporting surface, and readily detachable engaging means for securing said first and second members together said second member being an elongated strip of adhesive tape, said strip having adhesive material on one face thereof, a readily removale protective strip overlying said adhesive material, said elongated strip of adhesive tape being doubled on itself with said adhesive material on the inwardly facing face thereof said first member being an elongated strip of material having an adhesive face for securing to a catheter and carrying a first element of said readily detachable means at one end thereof, and a second element of said readily detachable means for engagement with said first element thereof, said second element being secured to said second member closely adjacent the position where the same is doubled on itself, said first and second elements being adapted to be connected together for securing said first and second members together to enable said catheter to be held in desired position with respect to a patient and said first and second elements being detachable from each other when movement or removal of the catheter is desired.

2. In catheter support construction in combination, a first member for engaging a catheter, said member being a strip of adhesive tape having adhesive material on one face thereof and a readily removable protective strip overlying said adhesive material, said protection strip being removable .to enable said adhesive to engage with a catheter to be secured and a first snap fastener element secured to said tape strip at the end thereof remote from the end to be en aged with the catheter, a second member being an elongated strip of adhesive tape doubled upon itself, said elongated strip having adhesive material on the inner face thereof, and having a readily removable protective strip overlying said adhesive material, a second snap fastener element cooperable with said first snap fastener element secured to said doubled elongated strip closely adjacent the doubling thereof to maintain said elongated strip in doubled condition, the legs of said elongated strip extending from said doubled portion to the free ends thereof being formed for separation so that on removal of the protective strip from the adhesive face thereof, the inner faces of said legs may be adhered to the body of the user said snap fastener elements being adapted to be detachably engaged to secure said members together so that a catheter may be positioned on a patient or removed without removing said second member from the patient.

3. In readily engageable and disengageable catheter support construction, in combination, a first member for engaging a catheter comprising, a strip of flexible material having a portion formed with an adhesive surface for engagement with the exterior surface of a catheter to retain the same and having a portion extending freely and flexibly away from said engageable portion, readily detachable engaging means including a pair of engageable elements, one of said elements being secured to said extending portion of said first member, a second member for securement to the body of a patient formed as an elongated strip of flexible material, said elongated strip being doubled upon itself and having portions extending freely away from the doubling thereof, the second element of said pair of readily detachable engaging means being secured to said second member adjacent the doubling thereof, and said portions of said second member extending away from said doubling being formed with interior adhesive surfaces whereby the same may be extended in opposite directions for securement to the body of a patient with said doubled portion flexibily mounted at an intermediate position said engaging means being adapted to be detachably engaged so that when said engaging means are engaged said catheter will be flexibly mounted for the comfort of the patient and when said engaging means are disengaged said catheter may be removed without disturbing the engagement of said second member with the body of the patient.

4. In catheter support construction, in combination, a first member for engaging a catheter, a second member for engaging a supporting surface, and readily detachable engaging means for securing said first and second members together, said readily detachable engaging means being a snap fastener formed of a pair of cooperating elements, one of said elements being secured to and adjacent an end of said first member, said second member having a doubled portion and having a pair of portions for engaging the body of a patient extending therefrom, said other one of said pair of cooperating elements being secured to said doubled portion of said second member closely adjacent the doubling thereof and said other cooperating element including means engaging both parts of said doubled portion to maintain the same in said doubled relationship, said cooperating element being adapted to be detachably engaged for securing said first and second members together to maintain said catheter in desired position with respect to a patient and being separable to enable said catheter to be removed without removing said second member from the patient.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,449,882 Daniels Sept. 21, 1948 2,590,006 Gordon Mar. 18, 1952 2,669,231 Fisher Feb. 16, 1954 3,046,989 Hill July 31, 1962 

1. IN CATHETER SUPPORT CONSTRUCTION, IN COMBINATION, A FIRST MEMBER FOR ENGAGING A CATHETER, A SECOND MEMBER FOR ENGAGING A SUPPORTING SURFACE, AND READILY DETACHABLE ENGAGING MEANS FOR SECURING SAID FIRST AND SECOND MEMBERS TOGETHER SAID SECOND MEMBER BEING AN ELONGATED STRIP OF ADHESIVE TAPE, SAID STRIP HAVING ADHESIVE MATERIAL ON ONE FACE THEREOF, A READILY REMOVALE PROTECTIVE STRIP OVERLYING SAID ADHESIVE MATERIAL, SAID ELONGATED STRIP OF ADHESIVE TAPE BEING DOUBLED ON ITSELF WITH SAID ADHESIVE MATERIAL ON THE INWARDLY FACING FACE THEREOF SAID FIRST MEMBER BEING AN ELONGATED STRIP OF MATERIAL HAVING AN ADHESIVE FACE FOR SECURING TO A CATHETER AND CARRYING A FIRST ELEMENT OF SAID READILY DETACHABLE MEANS AT ONE END THEREOF, AND A SECOND ELEMENT OF SAID READILY DETACHABLE MEANS FOR ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID FIRST ELEMENT THEREOF, SAID SECOND ELEMENT BEING SECURED TO SAID SECOND MEMBER CLOSELY ADJACENT THE POSITION WHERE THE SAME IS DOUBLED ON ITSELF, SAID FIRST AND SECOND ELEMENTS BEING ADAPTED TO BE CONNECTED TOGETHER FOR SECURING SAID FIRST AND SECOND MEMBERS TOGETHER TO ENABLE SAID CATHETER TO BE HELD IN DESIRED POSITION WITH RESPECT TO A PATIENT AND SAID FIRST AND SECOND ELEMENTS BEING DETACHABLE FROM EACH OTHER WHEN MOVEMENT OR REMOVAL OF THE CATHETER IS DESIRED. 